Labour Court directs HSE West to check chef’s pay records in allowance dispute

The Labour Court directed HSE West to check its pay records in a chef’s allowance dispute, in a decision dated 23 February 2012. A worker represented by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union had taken over the kitchen at Cloonmahon Residential Care Centre after a colleague retired and sought reassignment to Executive Chef. The Rights Commissioner had recommended an allowance for the additional responsibility, but HSE West appealed. The Court said the parties disagreed over whether the predecessor had received the allowance. HSE West must establish the predecessor’s pay from its records and provide them to the union and the Court. If the predecessor received the allowance, the worker should receive it under the Rights Commissioner’s recommendation. If the predecessor was paid the same as the worker, the claim cannot be upheld. Any allowance would be personal to the worker and would not apply to a successor.